Differentiators

Posted in Marketing and Strategy Terms, Total Reads: 892

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Definition: Differentiators

Differentiator refers to a unique characteristic or benefit associated with a product/service that differentiates it from the competitors’ products/services. For any product/service to be successful, it’s imperative that it sets itself apart from competition and provide a more attractive proposition to the consumers.

A company or brand may try to differentiate its product on the basis of form, features, customization, performance quality, conformance quality, durability, reliability and style. For example, Dell used customization and repairability as the major differentiators for its personal computers. Dell provided PCs with specifications matching the consumer’s needs and offered great technical support. A Harley Davidson, on the other hand, stands out because of its style quotient. Aesthetics play a key role in such brands.

The main service differentiators are delivery, installation, ordering ease, returns, maintenance and customer training. Amazon’s biggest differentiator when it was first launched was, without a doubt, ordering ease. Online shopping was still in its nascent size and amazon was able to capture the market very well. It has also been able to leverage its efficient logistics network to provide same-day delivery. It even plans to deliver packages using drones, unmanned aerial vehicles. Amazon definitely considers delivery as one of the differentiators against today’s competitors. Using returns as a differentiator is also very popular now. E-commerce sites with customer-friendly returns policy are often favoured to those with more stringent return policies.

Hence, this concludes the definition of Differentiators along with its overview.

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